GOP on a fool's errand to repeal Affordable Care Act

The arrival of April Fools' Day made me think of the fool's errand the GOP has been pursuing with 50 votes in the House to kill the Affordable Care Act.

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seacoastonline.com

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Posted Apr. 4, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Posted Apr. 4, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

To the Editor:

The arrival of April Fools' Day made me think of the fool's errand the GOP has been pursuing with 50 votes in the House to kill the Affordable Care Act.

I also wonder if they have a "Fool School" where GOP operatives and talking heads learn how to try and fool all of the people all of the time. It has a two part curriculum, the 3Rs and Debate Training.

The 3Rs — refuse, reject, revise. Refuse to accept facts, reject ideas that don't fit their emotional beliefs/opinions and revise anything and everything to support their position.

Debate training teaches that if you can't win a debate on the merits, or by offering a better alternative, distort, exaggerate or outright lie.

This GOP SOP, standard operating procedure, is most evident with their position on the Affordable Care Act.

They call it Obamacare to play to the bigots in their base. They call it a government takeover of the health care industry even though it only affects about 15 percent of the population and utilizes private doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. A slight exaggeration to say the least.

The GOP claims that the free market and consumers will arrive at the best system if the government just stays out of the way.

Since the beginning of time this process had evolved to one that rejected consumers due to pre-existing conditions, imposed annual and lifetime coverage limits, applied a premium surcharge on women and claimed the right to cancel customers who make too many claims.

The "best system" has left millions, who wanted coverage, uninsured either because the insurances companies don't want them or they can't afford the product. So much for the free market!

As consumers become more knowledgeable about the ACA, and millions finally sign-up and begin to enjoy it's benefits, it will become increasingly difficult for the GOP to disparage the program and fool the public with lies and distortions.